Title in Summary
by Zepphyra.Snow.Storm
Summary: In Which Sollux Wallows in Self Pity After a Bad Breakup, Then Proceeds To Be Papped and Shooshed By His Moirail Before Going To Taco Bell And Later Playing Lots of Video Games. This is basically just fluffy pale stuff about Terezi comforting Sollux after a breakup in their new world. This takes place approximately two sweeps after Sburb/Sgrub ends. Part 1 of Brave New World
1. Chapter 1

**Homestuck (c) Andrew Hussie.**

**Image used is not mine. If you can prove it is yours and you would like it to be taken down, I will gladly do so :)**

**This is the first in a series called Brave New World. (I know I should be working on _When Souls Collide, _please forgive me! OTL) The description of the series and works in the series will be put up on my profile shortly :) Hope you like it!_  
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**Enjoy, and review!**

**~Zepphyra**

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><p>When you walk in on him in the recreation block, Sollux is curled up on the couch, surrounded by energy drinks. From the sharp smell of ozone and the broken snarls he is emitting, you can tell he is <em>not <em>in a good mood.

"… Sollux?" you approach him slowly, fully prepared to counter his psionics if necessary.

He jumps a little, turning to you and hissing with wide eyes.

"Okay, what's wrong? And where's your husktop? I thought that was like, a body part or something."

Sollux narrows his eyes at you, and you can hear the loud, metallic clanging as he wipes all of the cans off the couch before collapsing on his side. It smells sharp like metal, and cold and bitter. "I fucking hate Jade." He mumbles.

"Are you two vacillating again?" You ask, placing yourself in the small space between his curled up legs and the arm of the couch.

"No!" He makes a frustrated sound, shoving his face into the couch. "I just… really hate her. Like serious platonic hate."

You frown. "That's not good, Sol…" You rest a hand on his arm. "Are you guys gonna… You know, end it?"

"She already did."

"… Oh, Sollux I'm sorry – "

"Don't be." Sollux grumbles. "I just… The things that she said to me… I kind of just want to blast her through a fucking wall."

"What – "

"But she's right, ya know." Sollux shrugs, turning his face a bit so that his voice was more clear and less muffled by couch cushions. He's not looking at you, but you can smell his eyes more clearly now. You take a subtle whiff. _Appleberry blast. _"I probably should go see a troll shrink for my problems… After all, that's a whole new job area introduced to us by the humans, and I guess if I really felt compelled I could utilize this new service… I know our insurance would cover it. But… she said that in the meantime it's a miracle that anyone could even stand me. She wonders how I've made friends up to this point. When I said that trolls didn't actually have psychological services to begin with, she went and said that must be why we're always trying to kill each other, because we're not all together upstairs."

"Sollux, you know that's not true! Okay well it's not entirely true!" You shoosh him indignantly.

"Ugh…" Sollux rolls over to look at you, burrowing his toes under your butt. "Shit TZ, I _know_, but Jade was right about _me._ She was right about me being an asshole basically all of the time, and being really difficult to handle because of my manic and depressive states, and the voices, and the coding benders, and… Ugh. I hate her, TZ, but _I don't hate her _because she's fucking right, I know she's right, and I couldn't… I didn't want to make her unhappy. I couldn't have possibly made someone as bright and fucking ethereal as Jade happy. I was being selfish dating someone like that, I was just bringing her down with me!"

"Stop it, you gogdamn wiggler!" You flick him on the arm with your sharp claws, making him hiss and glare at you. You throw yourself on top of his scrawny body and gathered him into your arms. "Shooh. Don't talk like that about yourself. Just shoosh." You close your eyes, knowing that the snarling psionic underneath you will calm down momentarily.

And he does – within a few seconds his body stills and just sort of deflates. "Why are you even still here? I don't deserve you, TZ…"

You nuzzle into the crook of his neck, a soft purr building up. "Because, stupid, I need you. And you need me." Sollux says nothing, but he throws an arm over you and begins petting your hair with his other hand. "Look: I really do hate it when you talk like that about yourself. I appreciate that you need to vent, but I hate it when you actually believe all the bad things that you say about yourself. You love coding and that's your passion. So why the hell can't you spend days on it? That's why I'm here – so you don't kill yourself from lack of nutrition or hydration. Also, you don't seem to be doing any worse than you were on Alternia with your various problems. Actually I think you're doing a bit better. But I also think that it wouldn't hurt to see a specialist that could help you. It's completely your choice, though. There's no shame in going, or not going." You push up off of Sollux to stand up, and he quickly turns away. You think he might be crying, but you're not really sure. You brush the stray hair out of his face, noticing absently that it's getting pretty long.

You sigh. Breakups are hard. You know he was _really _into Jade. From what you know, she was into him as well. But his mentality must have gotten to her at some point.

"Hey." You say. "Let's make a run to Taco Bell."

"What?" Sollux looks at you like you've grown a second pair of horns like him. "You can't be serious, TZ, I don't wanna go anywhere…"

"C'mon, Mr. Appleberry Blast, you know you can't resist their Baja Blast Freeze!"

He gives you a look – the kind of look a meowbeast might give you when they're interested in whatever you're offering but playing coy anyway, because they're a meowbeast.

You bend down and grab his shirt. You whisper seductively, "Beefy Fritos burrito… Cheesy bean and rice burrito… Doritos locos tacos…" He lets out a small gasp, and you decide to land the finishing blow with pail star worthy sexiness. "_Crunch. Wrap. Supreme."_

It's so sudden that you don't even register it happening, but he's up and – underneath you?

"To the idiot mobile!" He shouts enthusiastically, running with you on his back to the scuttle buggy.


	2. Chapter 2

You're pretty sure that you and Sollux cleaned out your Taco Bell. Normally you would be trying to get him to eat _real_ food, since all he ever eats is this kind of garbage (or worse) , but you'll make an exception if it will make him feel better. Besides, it's not like you can cook worth a damn.

"Now," you begin, slurping on your black cherry freeze. "We're gonna game hard when we get back home. What do you wanna do?"

In all honesty, earlier that night you'd come into the room to talk to him about something else… Something that had been weighing on your mind for a while. But this – Sollux's current heartbreak – had to come first. Ideally, he'd just be oblivious tonight like usual, but if he's in one of those infuriating moods where he just _has _to understand every little noise and expression and movement that comes from you, you're gonna –

"TZ, are you okay? You totally just zoned out on me there." He presses his own freeze to your face without taking his eyes off the road.

"Ugh – Sollux! Geez!" You bat away his icy drink as he sniggers. "I'm fine!"

"No you're not. You are _always_ on the ball, except when something really big is eating at you. So talk."

You take off your glasses and rub your eyes, groaning. This is exactly what you meant. You really, really, just want to focus on Sollux tonight. You just want him to get over Jade quickly and be okay. She's not worth moping about for weeks…

But she is to Sollux. They were together for almost a whole sweep.

Maybe you're just being selfish. Maybe you want Sollux to get over her so he can focus on your problem… While that may be, you don't want to push him… Damn it.

"TZ?"

"Ugh…" You groan. "I am so not ready for this conversation… Can it wait until later? Look, you literally just had a breakup. You need to focus on yourself right now, okay?"

Sollux shakes his head, sighing deeply as he pulls into the parking lot of your hivestem. "We'll wait until tomorrow, then."

You shake the icky mood off of you and walk up the stairs behind him(well, he floats, the smug bastard), both of you carrying a lot of food. "Sorry… So what games did you say you wanted to play?"

"Well, Minecraft, and Assassin's Creed – "

"But you've beat that game – _all _the games – like twice already!" You protest.

Sollux smiles at you as he floats the food for a moment with his psionics so he can unlock the door easier. "But you love those games." He points out.

A short, surprised burst of laughter comes from you and you feel so warm and fuzzy on the inside all of a sudden. "I do love them, yeah. But they're also more enjoyable for me because I'm not a hacker." You stick your tongue out at him as you put the food down on the floor in front of the TV.

"Yeah, but you're still pretty skilled. You see things – I mean, smell things that a lot of other people can't without cheats. You're a really good gamer."

"Can you not say that? Please?" You look at him imploringly.

"What? Take the fucking compliment!" He plugs in a game grub and it's Gears of War 3.

You sit down next to him, picking up the red controller. "It reminds me of Latula." Your nose scrunches up slightly in distaste as you remember her.

"What do you mean? Do you guys not talk or something? Did you not get along well with her after all?"

You shake your head, reaching into a bag and grabbing what you think is some kind of burrito. The menu is coming up now. "We tried to talk… tried to get along and get to know each other. But we decided it'd be better if we stopped… It wasn't working out. She was just… so _fake_. I couldn't stand it, and I told her so."

"Huh." You could hear him frown. You shift so that you're leaning your back against his side as you two begin to play. "That's a shame… I was… I actually get along really well with Mituna. I mean, in a snarky asshole companionship kind of way… I'm an asshole, he's an even bigger asshole, and we're interested in the same things, so it basically works out… Shit, I'm down, TZ shit fuck – oh, fucking – thanks, okay what was I saying?"

"You were saying you're basically in love with Mituna." You supply helpfully.

"Yeah, yeah… I mean – wait, _WHAT? _No. No, we are not going down that road. That is a dark and stormy road of loneliness and despair that I am not travelling for a _long_ time."

"What? Oh, shit, I – damn it. My bad."

Sollux shrugs. You need to concentrate on what you're saying to him. You can't just spit out your usual quips. The whole "love" thing is a big no-no… Okay, re-do.

"But I mean… It almost sounds like you have the same relationship with him as Dave does with his brother."

"Who, Dirk?"

"No, no, I mean Dave's instance of his older brother, the one he knew as his own lusus."

"TZ, stop calling them lusi."

"But that's what they are!" You frown. "They serve the same basic functions!"

"Yes, and no. Ugh. TZ do we really have to have The Difference Between Human Families and Guardians Versus Troll Lusi conversation? Is that what this is going to turn into?"

You pout. "No." You're still positive they're basically the same thing… Basically, all things considered…

"But to answer your question, I guess you could say that we have a similar relationship, yeah… Except, not really. Kind of, but not really... Damn it TZ we're not human and you're confusing me now because I can't explain this relationship in terms of human speak!" He snarls suddenly, and you hurry to pap his face.

"It's whatever, it was just a question. Hey, let's play Minecraft, okay?"

Sollux smiles. "Okay."

It was eleven in the morning. You had finally gotten Sollux to sleep. Around four he started to get drunk and he couldn't stop crying. So you just sat there in the pile in his room, holding him while he cried and cried and mumbled things about Jade that didn't make much sense. You don't really like it that he felt the need to break into the soporifics. You've told him how you feel about that kind of thing. So he ends up not drinking around you, and almost never gets drunk in the first place… But you can't help but be reminded of the clown. His image is one that will never stop haunting you.

Luckily, Sollux hadn't been that far gone and had sobered up pretty quickly. But you really just wanted him to sleep. He was a wreck. You would have asked him to sleep earlier that night, since he'd been busy working on a brand new firewall for four nights straight. But you knew he needed to spend time just relaxing and having a generally nice, low key night. You hope he'll be okay... You're pretty sure he'll be fine.

You close all of the blackout curtains in your hivestem and retire to your respiteblock for the day.

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><p><strong>This was my first fic in this fandom, and unfortunately it was kind of shitty. Oh well. <strong>

**Hope you enjoyed this, though. I just wanted it there to wrap the fic up and to give you a taste of what's next - that Terezi has a problem she needs to talk to Sollux about.**

**Please check out my profile soon, I'll let you know when I have the series description up there :)**

**Please review, and ask questions if you have any :)**


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